"Under-represented" is not some sort of trump card that makes it NOT discriminatory! It just makes it a matter of legality. By definition though, it has discriminated!
If you address this point directly I don't think you'd be getting such heat here. (But I will remain civil).
OK, BT. I'll try by coming down to cajar's level. Not Norcon's level, that's too low and I wouldn't make any sense.
And this might be a contender for the longest post.
Suppose we have a sweet shop. The owner sells a range from the old type sweet jars.
He has all green smarties, no other colour.
A new assistant starts and in the process of introducing the new assistant to the prices and sweets on offer, the assistant notices the all-green smartie jar and enquires, "Why? How?"
The owner explains that he thinks the green smarties have the best flavour, a hint of lime. But for some reason, they're not selling very well.
The new assistant asks, How did you get only green smarties?"
The owner explains that when he has a new batch of smarties, he sorts them, keeps the green ones and sends the rest back. Fotunately the owner doesn't have to do it often 'cos they're not selling well.
The new assistant explains that, "a) all smarties have the same flavour, chocolate, and the colour is just a coating to make them look attractive and appetising, and b) at the last shop I worked the smarties sold as well as anything else."
"Oh", the owner says. "So I've been discriminating against all the other colours for no reason."
That's prejudice or racism, if you like, causing the discrimination, i.e. the treatment towards smarties.
So now the owner orders a new batch of smarties, but he tells the supplier, "I don't want any green ones. If you send me any green ones I'll send the green ones back."
The new delivery arrives with all colours of smarties. So the owner sorts out the green ones and sends them back. The rest he adds to the smartie jar. His assitant notices that the top 2 centimetres are all colours except green and the rest of the 250 centimetres are still all green.
That's still discrimination, but against green smarties now. Just trying to even up the ratios, except it's not working. Just the top layer is looking nearly normal, but not quite.
Unfortunately, because people now buy smarties, the top 2 centimetres stay all colours except green, while the bottom 250 centimetres stay solely green. The owner doesn't know how to change the status quo.
The assistant suggests that he starts with a new empty jar, into which he puts his next order of all sorts, no sorting required, and some of his all-green smarties.
There's still a lot more green smarties but at least things are starting to look normal. The owner is sellling far more smarties and the shelf and the jar is starting to look normal.
A little more tweaking is required.
For the next delivery the owner orders double quantities of smarties.
When they arrive he stands back and makes a judgement call about which jar appears to have the least green ones. So he selects that jar and sends the other one back.
That's Positive Action. you haven't discriminated against anyone. You've recognised your previous mistakes and taken positive action to address them.
A new scenario:
You're organising am entertainment repertoire for a working mens club, so the audience tend to be much the same week-in, week-out.
You have three vocalists and one magician.
You know that vocalists are popular and can peform the same routine night after night without the audience complaining.
Whereas the magician only has a limited routine. After a couple of shows the audience have seen all the tricks.
You're looking for a new act to compliment the existing ones.
Two vocalists, one magician and a comedian audition.
You discuss with the comedian about his range of gags and discover that he can do about ten routines befoe he runs out of gags, and by then there are new gags on the block, so he never needs to repeat his routine.
You select the comedian to compliment your repertoire, You think it'll benefit the members, therfore the club, possibly the community as well 'cos they'll all go home happy and laughing, and not arguing or violent.
You haven't disciminated against the vocalists or the magician. You've positively selected to compliment the existing repertoire, on the type of acts that auditioned.
If only vocalists had auditioned you would have considered the best of the bunch. You have nothing against magicians but they're not right for this spot on this occasion.
That's Positive Action.
